After 5 Trillion Added to Debt, Obama Ad Claims Romney Is a Deficit-Driver

ABC/ Ida Mae Astute(CHICAGO) -- President Obama has presided over three consecutive years of historically high federal budget deficits and the addition of more than $5 trillion to the national debt.

Yet, that didn't stop his campaign from launching a new television ad in which Obama casts himself as the only candidate for president with a plan to narrow the budget gap, while suggesting GOP rival Mitt Romney would make deficits worse.

The 30-second spot -- titled “Worried” -- suggests that Romney’s call for new tax cuts for wealthier Americans and increased military spending will increase the deficit the way George W. Bush did.

“You watched … and worried. Two wars. Tax cuts for millionaires. Debt piled up,” the narrator says, over images of the Bush era. “Now we face a choice.”

The ad says Obama wants to reduce the deficit by having, “millionaires pay a little more” in higher taxes.

The ad is the latest in a series from the Obama campaign running in battleground states aimed at drawing contrasts between the dueling candidates on economic and social issues.

“President Obama’s plans to raise taxes on small businesses and make drastic cuts to our military are the wrong approach for America,” said Romney campaign spokesman Ryan Williams. “President Obama’s tax hikes are the last thing we need in a struggling economy.”

Obama insists the wealthy can foot the higher bill and without dampening economic growth -- a message he will take on the road to Ohio on Wednesday and Florida and Virginia on Thursday.

The new TV ad -- which his critics will likely dismiss as more examples of what they see as the president's go-to strategy, blaming others for the state of the economy -- begins airing Tuesday in Colorado, Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio and Florida.